Ruthless Things Fans Have Done to Troll Athletes
Remember the good ol' days when a sports fan would simply make a sign that made fun of an athlete or simply resort to relying on his or her lungs to yell at a player? While that might still happen, that's too old school these days.
Thanks to the internet and other creative things fans are thinking up, athletes are at the mercy of getting trolled all day, every day—and no one is safe from the abuse.
With all of the incredible ways fans have gone at athletes, I figured it would only be right to give the most ruthless things we've ever seen.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Instagram Posts
We all know social media has long been a place where trolls often go to try and punk out an athlete or team. So this one really isn't too surprising, right?
I mean, who hasn't been sitting around and watching a sporting event, only to get the urge to send something to the internet masses that takes a jab at a player in the game? We've all been there plenty of times before.
The power of the delete button can come in handy, too—as rapper Drake showed during this year's NBA playoffs—which can always cover someone's ass if things get taken either a little too far or create a controversy.
Twitter Memes
Much like the aforementioned Instagram posts, when a fan creates a Twitter meme of an athlete, it's typically not done out of respect.
Just look at the whole Crying Jordan meme that has swept the interwebs and, in my opinion, worn out its welcome. Under no circumstance was that created to encourage or applaud a team or athlete for a job well done.
Whether it's Crying Jordan, Crying LeBron or some other meme Twitter can't help but retweet, this is an expert way to take a jab in sports.
Chants From The Entire Stadium/Arena
Booing an opposing player is so old school, so actually getting thousands of enemy fans to chant something to get in his or her head is the way to go.
There are plenty of things that are more effective and bigger troll behavior than this, but not many, as the constant taunting is like an annoying alarm clock that just won't shut the hell up at five in the morning.
It takes a ton of effort for a packed stadium/arena to take part—but it's usually well worth it.
Burning His Jersey
It's just about as disrespectful and low as it gets right here. I mean, tweeting something, booing or posting a few words on Instagram is one thing; physically ruining a piece of clothing and turning it to ash is another.
Honestly, it takes one hell of a troll to burn a player's jersey—and they have their good reasons for doing it—but, wow, this is like the most epic troll job.
Throwing A Souvenir Back
Fans can go their entire lives hoping, praying, trying to get a souvenir from a sporting event, so when it actually happens, one wouldn't waste that opportunity, would they?
Yes, in fact, some will.
I actually love this type of troll because it says to an athlete, "I don't care that you gave me the one thing that I hoped for today, I'm going to disrespect you so badly that I'll throw it back as if it were a piece of garbage.
I'm not saying it's the smartest thing to do, but it is funny.
Restaurant Signs And Fake Job Offers
Forget writing something mean on poster boards to dog an opposing athlete, because the new way of expertly trolling someone is by putting it on a giant sign for thousands to see every day.
We've seen this happen on a few occasions, and each time is just as funny.
"Good morning from the Elyria Dairy Queen pic.twitter.com/yyIhPEd4TG
— HFS Cleveland (@HFSCleveland) June 16, 2016"
And while dogging an athlete on a sign is flat-out mean, what's worse is when a player gets disrespected by a company and is offered a job, making fun of the fact that he or she aren't too good at playing sports.
Wouldn't it be funny to see the athlete actually show up, just to see the look on the business' face? I'd enjoy that.
A Reminder Of Constant Failures
Congratulations, you suck at playing quarterback in the NFL, so how about you join this long list of other failures who preceded you? That's basically what the infamous Cleveland Browns jersey was saying to previous athletes who started under center for their team.
It was humorous but also an open-hand punch that reminds those signal-callers that, haha, you're not good enough to play for the quarterback-starved Browns!
Following the Cleveland Cavaliers title, though, the jersey is being retired—which is something every person's name on the thing wished would have happened years ago.
Distracting Him/Her During A Free Throw In A Unique Way
While all of these troll techniques are fair game, there isn't one more common than seeing a fan go ballistic in hopes of making an opposing player brick his or her free throws.
We've seen signs, chants and plenty of other spirited techniques from fans, so this one is always done in good fun.
In addition to trolling a free-throw shooter, anytime a fanbase can get into a player's head by disrespecting him or her with something clever like reading a newspaper during pregame announcements, it's always an A-plus troll job.
Just keep things clean, guys.
Writing An Athlete Off In Obituary
Who knew that, even from six feet under, a sports fan could troll a pro athlete, huh?
That's what we've seen on a few occasions, though, as some diehard supporters of a team are actually including their hatred for a player into their obituaries—which just seems so wrong, in my opinion.
It's like the deceased saying, "Look, I love my team, but I've never, ever been a fan of yours. And you know what? I'm going to let you know in my dying words." Just lethal, guys.
Starting A GoFundMe Page To Get A Guy To Not Play
There have been a lot of GoFundMe pages that have done a lot of good around the world, and then there have been others that have straight-up trolled the hell out of some athletes.
Take one of the latest, for example, which saw a Cleveland Cavs fan humorously create a campaign to raise $10 million to try to get Kevin Love to sit out Game 6 of this year's NBA Finals because of his poor play.
Just as hilarious as Love's was one for former Chicago White Sox player Adam LaRoche, who saw fans troll him by creating a GoFundMe after the player retired for not being able to bring his son to the clubhouse.
Fake or real, when a GoFundMe is created to troll an athlete, it's always gold.
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